135
Crossing Gazes
In the smoke, the first thing to halt was not movement, but sight.
Yi In-jung was cutting forward through the vortex inside the city when he suddenly lifted his head.Beneath a pavilion, in a pocket of shadow untouched by flame, people had gathered—and the flow of battle split around that point.
Zhang Shicheng stood there.
The distance was close.Close enough for both men to recognize each other clearly.
Between them, shouts and commands blurred.The roar of the battlefield seemed to drop away.Only the presence of one man stood in sharp relief.
Yi In-jung decided at once.
That man is the core of this city.Before the walls could fall, that center had to break.
Zhang Shicheng was watching him as well.
The commander at the head of the Goryeo army—too far forward, his movements light.The formation opened and closed naturally around him.
Zhang Shicheng narrowed his eyes.
This distance led to an ending.The fight had already begun.
In Yi In-jung's gaze there was calculation.
If I bring him down, the city collapses.Will breaks before walls.
He defined it as an opportunity—costly, but one that had to be seized.
In Zhang Shicheng's gaze there was resolve.
As long as that commander lives, the Goryeo advance will not stop.He moves his army not by orders, but by flow.If he is not stopped, the city will collapse from within.
Looking at each other, they reached the same conclusion.
This battle would narrow—to one of them.
Zhang Shicheng broke eye contact first.
He turned toward his soldiers and spoke low.
"Draw him deeper into the city."
With those words, the soldiers' movement changed.The fight shifted from blocking—to luring.
Alleys and passages opened and closed, guiding Yi In-jung's advance inward.
Yi In-jung felt the change—and did not slow.
A brief smile touched his lips.
"Good."
He raised a hand toward Park Seong-jin.
"We go in!"
Park Seong-jin read the gesture clearly.
We go inside.We take the enemy commander first.
The battlefield regained its sound.Shouts erupted. Steel clashed.
Beneath the noise, an irreversible current had already formed.
Yi In-jung continued forward.Zhang Shicheng calmly prepared the place where he would meet him.
That dawn, in the heart of Gaoyou,the two commanders had not yet crossed blades.
Yet their fates were already moving—toward a decided direction.
Preparing the Trap
Zhang Shicheng first surveyed the darkness beneath the pavilion.
A place the flames could not reach.Where smoke and shadow tangled.Where footsteps slowed without thought.
He knew every road inside the city.Land he had lived on for decades.Where stone grew slick.Where water seeped.
A battlefield is not created.Existing roads become the battlefield.
Zhang Shicheng raised his hand in a brief signal.No words.
With that single gesture, soldiers scattered.
First—a passage cleared under the guise of widening the road.Debris was moved.Burnt timber dragged aside.The alley was cleared to an easy width.
That road would become bait.
Second—places to cut vision.Scraps of canvas and smoke braziers were set at bends in the alley.Two steps of blindness was enough.
People hurry most through what they cannot see.
Third—places to bind the feet.Water drawn from wells was poured over the stone road.Mixed with blood, the mud was more precise than a blade.
Slip once, and standing again took time.
Zhang Shicheng turned and called the guard.
They lightened their armor, tightened shield straps again.
What mattered here was not strength—but rhythm.
Block from the front.Pierce from the side.Cut from behind.
"Do not stop them in front," Zhang Shicheng said quietly."Let them enter—and make sure they cannot leave."
A soldier nodded, tapping the ground lightly with his spear tip.Position confirmed.
Archers were already placed on rooftops and behind windows.They did not need many arrows.Only the moment when men crowded together.
Zhang Shicheng glanced at the depth of the quivers.
Enough remained.
At last, he looked once more at the pavilion's shadow.
This was not a place to retreat from.It was a center—where men would gather.
It had to be seen.And not easily reached.
Zhang Shicheng gripped his long spear.
Its weight settled precisely into his palm.
This spear was not for swinging.It was an axis—to endure.
He pictured the flow inside the city.Where the Goryeo vanguard would enter was already clear.
People choose open roads.Those with momentum choose them even more.
Zhang Shicheng spoke low.
"This city has not abandoned us yet."
The words were for his soldiers—and for himself.
He lifted his head.
Beyond the smoke, the flow of the Goryeo army was beginning to move.
Zhang Shicheng fixed his position, watching that direction.
The fight would soon enter here.
He had already prepared the place.